Let Me Be The One To Tell You

"But how can they call on him to save them unless they believe in him?  And how can they believe in him if they have never heard about him?  And how can they hear about him unless someone tells them?" - Romans 10:  14-15

In his letter to the Romans, Paul is following a line of reasoning as to how believers in Christ are responsible for telling the world about Jesus.  An unbeliever cannot ask God to save them unless they believe in the one true God.  And they can't believe in the one true God unless they hear about Him.  And they can't hear about God until someone tells them.  So let me be the one to tell you.

There is a God in heaven, the creator of the universe and everything in it.  He created you for a purpose and a reason.  He loves you more than you can imagine and nothing can take away or add to that love.  It is a perfect and unconditional love that has no prerequisite.  He loves us just because.  And what makes this love even more amazing is that He loves us even though we are sinners.  Yes, that's right.  We are ALL sinners.  You may try to convince yourself that you are a good person but good people do not get into heaven.  Perfect people get into heaven.  Are you perfect?  No, well that's good.  Because neither am I.

If only perfect people get into heaven and none of us are perfect, then what hope is there for any us?  This is where Jesus comes in.  Jesus, the Son of God, came to earth and lived a sinless life.  He was brutally beaten and unfairly put to death by means of the Roman crucifixion.  But three days later, He defeated death by coming back from the dead.

What does this all mean?  By suffering and dying on the cross, Christ took on the punishment for the sins of the world; past, present, and future.  By doing so, He cleansed us from all unrighteousness that comes from our sins.

So what now?  You have just been presented with what is commonly known as "the Gospel".  The word "gospel" means "good news" and you have just read about the good news of Jesus Christ.  But you are not automatically saved.  In fact, the default destination for all sinners is eternal separation from God.  But it doesn't have to be that way.  You can spend all of eternity in God's presence by putting your faith and trust in Jesus Christ, believing that He died on the cross for your sins and rose from the dead three days later.

Well, why would God send people to hell?  Too many people get this wrong.  God doesn't send anyone to hell.  Part of the perfect love that I described above means having free will.  After all, is it possible to love someone without free will?  If God had created us like robots and programmed us to love Him, would that be true love?  Not at all.  Love is a choice.  God does not force us to love Him and He will not force you to spend an eternity in His presence.  If you choose to not believe in what Christ did, you are essentially condemning yourself.  You are basically saying, "Hey God, thanks for Jesus.  I know he was a good guy and said a lot of nice things but I know that there is a bunch of different ways to heaven.  I'm just going to forgo His sacrifice and try to make it in to heaven based on my own perfection."  Let me be the one to tell you that this will not suffice.  You are not good enough, no matter how good you think you are.  And if you believe that all roads lead to God, well you are actually right.  All roads do lead to God...eventually.  But not all roads lead to heaven.

How can I put my faith in Christ?  It is really simple:  "Heavenly Father, I know that I am a sinner.  I am not perfect and have sinned against you many times in my life.  But I choose to turn from my sins and trust in Jesus.  I believe that He lived a perfect life, suffered and died on the cross for my sins, and rose again three days later.  I ask you to come into my life.  I choose to follow you from this moment forward.  In Jesus name I pray, Amen."

So saying that saves me?  Not at all.  First of all, there is no special phrase that people say to become a Christian.  There are no magical words.  But you must confess that you are a sinner and you need Christ to save you.  It doesn't matter how you say it.  Second, you must mean it.  Simply reciting the statement above does not guarantee you heaven.  You have to truly mean it.  It has to be genuine.  It has to be real.  No more games.

Do not take this lightly.  We are talking about eternity.  The Bible says that "Today is the day of salvation" (2 Corinthians 6:2).  Don't put this off.  Don't wait.  You may never get another opportunity.